BILL NUMBER: SB 635	CHAPTERED  10/10/99

	CHAPTER   777
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   OCTOBER 10, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   OCTOBER 7, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   SEPTEMBER 9, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 7, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 3, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 16, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JULY 12, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JUNE 28, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JUNE 15, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 3, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Sher

                        FEBRUARY 24, 1999

   An act to amend Section 116365 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to drinking water.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 635, Sher.  Primary drinking water standards.
   Existing law, the Calderon-Sher Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996,
requires the State Department of Health Services to adopt regulations
covering water testing, the monitoring of contaminants, the
frequency and method of sampling and testing, the reporting of
results, and other matters as may be necessary to determine and
ensure the quality of domestic water supplies.
   Existing law requires the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment to perform a risk assessment and, based upon that risk
assessment, to adopt a public health goal for contaminants in
drinking water based exclusively on public health considerations for
each drinking water contaminant regulated, or proposed to be
regulated, by the department pursuant to a primary drinking water
standard.
   This bill would instead require the office to prepare and publish
an assessment of the risks to public health posed by each contaminant
for which the department proposes a primary drinking water standard
and would require the risk assessment to contain an estimate of the
level of the contaminant in drinking water that is not anticipated to
cause or contribute to adverse health effects, or that does not pose
any significant risk to health, that would be known as the public
health goal for the contaminant.  The bill would also revise the
criteria upon which the public health goal for each contaminant would
be based.  This bill would require the office to post certain
information about the risk assessments on its Internet web page, and
would establish procedures for submission of comments, data, studies,
or other written information by interested persons.
   Existing law requires the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment to adopt a public health goal for certain drinking water
contaminants by January 1, 1999, and for all remaining drinking water
contaminants for which a primary drinking water standard has been
adopted by the department by no later than December 31, 1999.
   This bill would require that the office publish, rather than
adopt, those goals and would extend the date by which the goal for
the remaining drinking water contaminants shall be published to
December 31, 2001.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 116365 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
   116365.  (a) The department shall adopt primary drinking water
standards for contaminants in drinking water that are based upon the
criteria set forth in subdivision (b) and shall not be less stringent
than the national primary drinking water standards adopted by the
United States Environmental Protection Agency.  Each primary drinking
water standard adopted by the department shall be set at a level
that is as close as feasible to the corresponding public health goal
placing primary emphasis on the protection of public health, and
that, to the extent technologically and economically feasible, meets
all of the following:
   (1) With respect to acutely toxic substances, avoids any known or
anticipated adverse effects on public health with an adequate margin
of safety, and
   (2) With respect to carcinogens, or any substances that may cause
chronic disease, avoids any significant risk to public health.
   (b) The department shall consider all of the following criteria
when it adopts a primary drinking water standard:
   (1) The public health goal for the contaminant published by the
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment pursuant to
subdivision (c).
   (2) The national primary drinking water standard for the
contaminant, if any, adopted by the United States Environmental
Protection Agency.
   (3) The technological and economic feasibility of compliance with
the proposed primary drinking water standard.  For the purposes of
determining economic feasibility pursuant to this paragraph, the
department shall consider the costs of compliance to public water
systems, customers, and other affected parties with the proposed
primary drinking water standard, including the cost per customer and
aggregate cost of compliance, using best available technology.
   (c) (1) The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment shall
prepare and publish an assessment of the risks to public health
posed by each contaminant for which the department proposes a primary
drinking water standard.  The risk assessment shall be prepared
using the most current principles, practices, and methods used by
public health professionals who are experienced practitioners in the
fields of epidemiology, risk assessment, and toxicology.  The risk
assessment shall contain an estimate of the level of the contaminant
in drinking water that is not anticipated to cause or contribute to
adverse health effects, or that does not pose any significant risk to
health.  This level shall be known as the public health goal for the
contaminant.  The public health goal shall be based exclusively on
public health considerations and shall be set in accordance with all
of the following:
   (A) If the contaminant is an acutely toxic substance, the public
health goal shall be set at the level at which no known or
anticipated adverse effects on health occur, with an adequate margin
of safety.
   (B) If the contaminant is a carcinogen or other substance that may
cause chronic disease, the public health goal shall be set at the
level that, based upon currently available data, does not pose any
significant risk to health.
   (C) To the extent information is available, the public health goal
shall take into account each of the following factors:
   (i) Synergistic effects resulting from exposure to, or interaction
between, the contaminant and one or more other substances or
contaminants.
   (ii) Adverse health effects the contaminant has on members of
subgroups that comprise a meaningful portion of the general
population, including, but not limited to, infants, children,
pregnant women, the elderly, individuals with a history of serious
illness, or other subgroups that are identifiable as being at greater
risk of adverse health effects than the general population when
exposed to the contaminant in drinking water.
   (iii) The relationship between exposure to the contaminant and
increased body burden and the degree to which increased body burden
levels alter physiological function or structure in a manner that may
significantly increase the risk of illness.
   (iv) The additive effect of exposure to the contaminant in media
other than drinking water, including, but not limited to, exposures
to the contaminant in food, and in ambient and indoor air, and the
degree to which these exposures may contribute to the overall body
burden of the contaminant.
   (D) If the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment finds
that currently available scientific data are insufficient to
determine the level of a contaminant at which no known or anticipated
adverse effects on health will occur, with an adequate margin of
safety, or the level that poses no significant risk to public health,
the public health goal shall be set at a level that is protective of
public health, with an adequate margin of safety.  This level shall
be based exclusively on health considerations and shall, to the
extent scientific data are available, take into account the factors
set forth in clauses (i) to (iv), inclusive, of subparagraph (C), and
shall be based on the most current principles, practices, and
methods used by public health professionals who are experienced
practitioners in the fields of epidemiology, risk assessment, and
toxicology.  However, if adequate scientific evidence demonstrates
that a safe dose response threshold for a contaminant exists, then
the public health goal should be set at that threshold.  The
department may set the public health goal at zero if necessary to
satisfy the requirements of this subparagraph.
   (2) The determination of the toxicological endpoints of a
contaminant and the publication of its public health goal in a risk
assessment prepared by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment are not subject to the requirements of Chapter 3.5
(commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.  The Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment and the department shall not impose any mandate on a
public water system that requires the public water system to comply
with a public health goal.  The Legislature finds and declares that
the addition of this paragraph by the act amending this section
during the 1999-2000 Regular Session of the Legislature is
declaratory of existing law.
   (3) (A) Beginning July 1, 2001, the Office of Environmental Health
Hazard Assessment shall, at the time it commences preparation of a
risk assessment for a contaminant as required by this subdivision,
electronically post on its Internet web page a notice that informs
interested persons that it has initiated work on the risk assessment.
  The notice shall also include a brief description, or a
bibliography, of the technical documents or other information the
office has identified to date as relevant to the preparation of the
risk assessment and inform persons who wish to submit information
concerning the contaminant that is the subject of the risk assessment
of the name and address of the person in the office to whom the
information may be sent, the date by which the information must be
received in order for the office to consider it in the preparation of
the risk assessment, and that all information submitted will be made
available to any member of the public who requests it.  Until July
1, 2001, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment shall
send the notice to interested persons who request it by mail.
   (B) Each draft risk assessment prepared by the Office of
Environmental Health Hazard Assessment pursuant to this subdivision
shall be made available to the public at least 45 calendar days prior
to the date that public comment and discussion on the risk
assessment are solicited at the public workshop required by Section
57003.
   (C) At the time the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment publishes the final risk assessment for a contaminant, the
office shall respond in writing to significant comments, data,
studies, or other written information submitted by interested persons
to the office in connection with the preparation of the risk
assessment.  Any such comments, data, studies, or other written
information submitted to the office shall be made available to any
member of the public who requests it.
   (D) Any interested person may, within 15 calendar days of the date
the public workshop on a risk assessment is completed pursuant to
Section 57003, request the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment to submit the risk assessment to external scientific peer
review prior to its publication.  If the office receives such a
request, the office shall submit the risk assessment to external
scientific peer review in a manner substantially equivalent to the
external scientific peer review process set forth in Section 57004,
if the person requesting the external scientific peer review enters
into an enforceable agreement with the office within 15 calendar days
of making the request that requires the person requesting the
external scientific peer review to fully reimburse the office for all
of the costs associated with conducting the external scientific peer
review.
   (E) It is the intent of the Legislature that, if the Office of
Environmental Health Hazard Assessment receives a request to submit a
risk assessment prepared for a contaminant to which paragraph (2) of
subdivision (e) applies to external scientific review, the peer
review shall be conducted in a manner that does not affect the
schedule for publishing the public health goal for that contaminant
as set forth in paragraph (2) of subdivision (e).
   (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any
maximum contaminant level in effect on August 22, 1995, may be
amended by the department to make the level more stringent pursuant
to this section.  However, the department may only amend a maximum
contaminant level to make it less stringent if the department shows
clear and convincing evidence that the maximum contaminant level
should be made less stringent and the amendment is made consistent
with this section.
   (e) (1) All public health goals published by the Office of
Environmental Health Hazard Assessment shall be established in
accordance with the requirements of subdivision (c) and shall be
reviewed at least once every five years and revised, pursuant to
subdivision (c), as necessary based upon the availability of new
scientific data.
   (2) On or before January 1, 1998, the Office of Environmental
Health Hazard Assessment shall publish a public health goal for at
least 25 drinking water contaminants for which a primary drinking
water standard has been adopted by the department.  The office shall
publish a public health goal for 25 additional drinking water
contaminants by January 1, 1999, and for all remaining drinking water
contaminants for which a primary drinking water standard has been
adopted by the department by no later than December 31, 2001.  A
public health goal shall be published by the Office of Environmental
Health Hazard Assessment at the same time the department proposes the
adoption of a primary drinking water standard for any newly
regulated contaminant.
   (f) The department or Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment may review, and adopt by reference, any information
prepared by, or on behalf of, the United States Environmental
Protection Agency for the purpose of adopting a national primary
drinking water standard or maximum contaminant level goal when it
establishes a California maximum contaminant level or publishes a
public health goal.
   (g) At least once every five years after adoption of a primary
drinking water standard, the department shall review the primary
drinking water standard and shall, consistent with the criteria set
forth in subdivisions (a) and (b), amend any standard if any of the
following occur:
   (1) Changes in technology or treatment techniques that permit a
materially greater protection of public health or attainment of the
public health goal.
   (2) New scientific evidence that indicates that the substance may
present a materially different risk to public health than was
previously determined.
   (h) Not later than March 1 of every year, the department shall
provide public notice of each primary drinking water standard it
proposes to review in that year pursuant to this section.
Thereafter, the department shall solicit and consider public comment
and hold one or more public hearings regarding its proposal to either
amend or maintain an existing standard.  With adequate public
notice, the department may review additional contaminants not covered
by the March 1 notice.
   (i) This section shall operate prospectively to govern the
adoption of new or revised primary drinking water standards and does
not require the repeal or readoption of primary drinking water
standards in effect immediately preceding January 1, 1997.
   (j) The department may, by regulation, require the use of a
specified treatment technique in lieu of establishing a maximum
contaminant level for a contaminant if the department determines that
it is not economically or technologically feasible to ascertain the
level of the contaminant.
